Gilbert Arenas is playing basketball in Shanghai these days, nearly 7,500 miles away and several years removed from the place where he electrified fans in Washington with his quirky personality and quick release from anywhere on the floor.
Arenas’s three all-star appearances with the Wizards earned him a six-year, $111 million contract from owner Abe Pollin in the summer of 2008. But a deteriorating knee and a disastrous decision in the locker room forced President Ernie Grunfeld and current owner Ted Leonsis to cut ties and break free of an albatross of a deal that seemingly would’ve financially hamstrung the franchise through 2014.
Grunfeld dealt Arenas to the Orlando Magic in December 2010 for Rashard Lewis and received praise from rival executives for unloading what once seemed immovable. Lewis’s contract came off the books one year earlier than Arenas’s deal and could give the team greater flexibility to rebuild around John Wall.
But nearly two years later, the shadow of Arenas’s monster contract continues to haunt the Wizards. They traded Lewis’s expiring contract — with only $13.7 million guaranteed — and the 46th overall pick to the New Orleans Hornets last June in order to commit $43 million over the next two seasons to Trevor Ariza and Emeka Okafor.
At the time the Wizards consummated the trade for Ariza and Okafor, Grunfeld stressed the importance of adding veterans to a team littered with young pups. He also emphasized the need to get something for nothing, since the team would’ve otherwise paid Lewis to not play for them. But it appears that the Wizards have turned one expensive blunder into another with Ariza and Okafor both struggling and the team off to a franchise-worst 0-11 start.
Ariza and Okafor account for one-third of a $66 million payroll, the 19th highest in the league. But Coach Randy Wittman has already benched the duo in favor of less-seasoned players at the start of games, and they are often not on the floor with the outcome of the games in doubt.
“It’s tough,” Okafor said, as the Wizards prepare to host the San Antonio Spurs on Monday at Verizon Center. “I’m a competitor, but right now, we’re just trying to get wins and when you’re 0-11, you try to find a way. So I’ve always been a team player and I’m going to do what I can do.”
Not playing up to par
Okafor is the Wizards’ highest-paid player at $13.5 million this season, but he is off to the worst start of his career. He arrived in Washington averaging a double-double over his first eight seasons in Charlotte and New Orleans, but he is contributing career lows of 7.7 points on 40 percent shooting and 6.1 rebounds. He hasn’t played beyond the third quarter in five games and sat for both overtime periods in the Wizards’ 108-106 loss Saturday against Charlotte.
“I love his experience. I need his experience,” Wittman recently said of Okafor. “But when you’re not playing that game to the level that we need to be playing and I’ve got somebody else sitting there that I feel is going to give me that, I’ve got to go with that. That’s a gut feeling. That’s coaching. That’s all that is.”
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